A few months ago, I was on a road trip with some friends in upstate New York when we were stopped and searched by state troopers who deployed a drug-sniffing dog. They pulled us all out of the car and tore through our rented minivan, discovering a small plastic baggy with about a gram of weed in it. When they turned up the bag, my homies and I—all young, brown men—instinctively held our hands out to our sides, palms out, as a show of surrender.

The cops started laughing. One of them approached me and said, “I get it. You’re coming from the city, it’s a long drive, you brought a little weed to smoke on the way. Put your hands down. It’ll be fine.” My friends and I exchanged quizzical glances. We’re all used to getting the third degree when it came to drugs and cops.

Police decked out in riot gear arrested Walmart workers and supporters after they blocked an intersection in front of a Pico Rivera, California store Thursday evening.

KTLA reports dozens of protestors were taken into custody by sheriff’s deputies wearing riot helmets and holding batons, several hours after the sit-in began, drawing hundreds protesting working conditions at the retail giant.

The sit-in followed a work stoppage earlier in the day at the company’s Crenshaw Boulevard store in Baldwin Hills.

Employees in Baldwin Hills store stopped work and sat on the floor with tape over the mouths reading ‘strike,’ while holding signs saying, “Walmart stop the illegal threats.”

Hey Disinfonauts, thought you might like to know that we’ve uploaded Never Get Busted Again: Volume 1 Traffic Stops to YouTube. You can now watch it for free.

Watch Barry Cooper, a former police officer in Texas focusing on narcotics interdiction for eight years, teach you exactly what you need to know to stay out of jail. With over 800 felony and misdemeanor narcotics arrests, DEA training, and extensive experience with K-9s (drug dogs), Barry’s friendly, plain spoken and honest attitude makes it easy and entertaining for you to learn what you need to know.

A family from Hammond, Indiana is suing the Hammond Police department for excessive force after what should’ve been a routine traffic stop turned violent. Lisa Mahone was driving with her boyfriend Jamal Jones and her two children to Stroger Hospital when Hammond police pulled her over for not wearing a seatbelt. CBS2 reports Mahone admitted to the violation and asked for a ticket so she could continue on her way to the hospital to visit her dying mother.

Though Mahone was the operator of the vehicle and produced valid identification and proof of insurance, police demanded to see identification from Jones as well. Jones informed the officers he didn’t have ID, as he recently received a ticket. After attempting to reach into the backseat and produce the ticket from a backpack, the officers drew their guns.

Mahone’s 14-year-old son then began recording the encounter with his cell phone and Mahone dialed 911.… Read the rest

Should you happen to visit Dubai and notice a bespectacled cop looking at you, chances are he’s running you through the local police department’s facial recognition database to see what they’ve got on you. Report on this Orwellian policing initiative via Reuters:

Dubai police plan to issue detectives with Google Glass hands-free eyewear to help them fight crime using facial recognition technology, a police spokesman in the wealthy Gulf Arab emirate said.

The wearable device consists of a tiny computer screen mounted in the corner of an eyeglass frame and is capable of taking photos, recording video and playing sound.

The spokesman confirmed a report in Dubai’s 7 Days newspaper that software developed by Dubai police would enable a connection between the wearer and a database of wanted people.

Once the device “recognized” a suspect based on a face print, it would alert the officer wearing the gadget.

The gadget would be used in a first phase to combat traffic violations and track vehicles suspected of involvement in motoring offences.

A federal program that has drawn criticism in recent weeks for supplying surplus military gear to local police has also provided rifles, grenade launchers and armored vehicles to public schools, some of which were unprepared for what they were getting.

In the wake of school shootings in Sandy Hook, Conn., and elsewhere, some school security departments developed SWAT teams, added weapons to deal with any contingency and called on the federal government to help supply the gear. But now the program is facing renewed scrutiny from both outside observers and police using the program.

In south Texas, near the Mexican border, the sprawling Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District has 34,700 students and operates its own SWAT team, thanks in part to military gear it was given in recent years.

On its official website, the Canadian government informs its citizens that “there is no limit to the amount of money that you may legally take into or out of the United States.” Nonetheless, it adds, banking in the U.S. can be difficult for non-residents, so Canadians shouldn’t carry large amounts of cash.

That last bit is excellent advice, but for an entirely different reason than the one Ottawa cites.

There’s a shakedown going on in the U.S., and the perps are in uniform.

Across America, law enforcement officers — from federal agents to state troopers right down to sheriffs in one-street backwaters — are operating a vast, co-ordinated scheme to grab as much of the public’s cash as they can; “hand over fist,” to use the words of one police trainer.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy Andrew Wood will not be charged for fatally running over former Napster COO Milton Olin Jr. in his patrol car while the officer was typing a message into his computer.

The instance exposes the different way that law enforcement officials are treated versus civilians in cases where a person is killed because of texting while driving.

It’s illegal to text and drive in California; the state has a specific law against it. Civilians caught doing it can expect to face charges. But a report from the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office shows that the rules may be applied differently to cops…

Michael Bell describes how his unarmed son was killed by a police officer, who was immediately excused from accountability. The excuse of excessive force may be familiar, the officer claimed the victim went for his gun. Bell later went on to campaign for outside reviews for unarmed police shootings in Wisconsin. This approach adopted across the board combined with ending the war on drugs, demilitarizing, and personal cameras on all officers would be ideal.

After police in Kenosha, Wis., shot my 21-year-old son to death outside his house ten years ago — and then immediately cleared themselves of all wrongdoing — an African-American man approached me and said: “If they can shoot a white boy like a dog, imagine what we’ve been going through.”

I could imagine it all too easily, just as the rest of the country has been seeing it all too clearly in the terrible images coming from Ferguson, Mo., in the aftermath of the killing of Michael Brown.